Manhattan Research Inc. - Raymond Scott

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Manhattan Research Inc. is a two-CD compilation of electronic music created by the musician, composer and inventor, Raymond Scott and his company, "Manhattan Research Inc." Posthumously released in 2000 by Basta Music of Holland, the album contains selected samples of Scott's work from the 1950s and 1960s for film soundtracks, commercials, and for his own technical and musical experiments. The synthesizers, sequencers, and drum-machines used were designed and constructed by Raymond Scott.
Scott would often describe Manhattan Research Inc. as "More than a think factory - a dream center where the excitement of tomorrow is made available today." The material, while never intended for commercial release, provides insight into Scott's work. Included among the tracks on the album are commercials for companies such as Ford Motor and IBM, a humorous "Audio Logo" collage entitled "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night!", and various collaborations with Jim Henson (of Muppets fame). The album features a number of Scott's inventions including the Clavivox keyboard, Circle Machine, Bass Line Generator, Rhythm Modulator, Karloff, Bandito the Bongo Artist, and the auto-composing Electronium.
Much of the audio selections, as well as the images for the accompanying 144-page book, were culled from the University of Missouri Kansas City's extensive collection of Raymond Scott material. Album producers Gert-Jan Blom and Jeff Winner worked with several of the university's staff in choosing material for the project. During the process, the two producers were impressed by the quality and fidelity of the recordings, despite being some thirty to forty years old. Due to Scott's meticulous attention to detail, "They were so well recorded that almost no audio correction was necessary during the mastering" of the album." In the CD notes, Blom & Winner write, "Scott sought to master all aspects of sound capture and manipulation. His special interest in the technical aspects of recording, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal, provided him with enormous hands-on experience as an engineer."